Artillery
by Hero248
Summary: Trent Russell is a normal teenager. Except for the fact he is a mutant. With his powers, he embarks on many adventures with his fellow mutant friends, the X-Men.
1. Chapter 1

Location: Bayville Football Field

Today was the day of the Bayville football game. Usually I don't like football but I'm here to support my friend Jean Grey, who wanted to take pictures of the game. Plus she's dating the quarterback Duncan Matthews. Personally, I'm not fond of the guy considering he's a jerk who picks on the little guys. However, since for some reason Jean likes him, I just keep supporting her in her relationship with him.

By the way, my name's Trent Russell, and I'm what's called a mutant. Being a mutant means I have powers that others don't have. In my case, I can create constructs out of energy. I can use that energy to create things like disks I can throw, or energy bolts, even force fields; basically, I can create anything my mind can think up. If you're trying to picture what I look like I have brown hair, blue eyes, white skin, jeans, suede shoes, and a blue t-shirt.

So right now we are in the middle of the game where Duncan has the ball and is about to score a touchdown. Right when he is about to make it he gets tackled by one of the rival players. Luckily for the home team, Duncan scores a touchdown. Jean is there with him taking pictures of him. I'm currently sitting on the bleachers with my other friend Scott Summers and his friend Paul Haits. Scott is fiddling with a quarter through his fingers, looking at Jean with Duncan. It's no secret that he likes Jean and is jealous that she is with Duncan. I tease him about it frequently but he just denies it.

Scott is still fiddling wuth his quarter when suddenly he drops it and it falls into the bleachers. "Oh man. My cash." Scott says. Suddenly we spot a pale hand take a wallet from someones back pocket. Scott says to me and Paul, "Hey check it. Looks like someone's taking up a collection." "Whoa should we call the cops." says Paul. Scott replies, "Hold that option open." He get up and I follow him.

We head down under the bleachers where we hear Duncan and his goons picking on a pale skinned kid named Todd Tolansky. "Well, hey. If it ain't Toady Tolansky picking up a little spare change." I hear Duncan say. Todd replies, "Uh...Hi Duncan. Look I can explain." Duncan simply grabe him and says, "Shut up frog face!" He bangs him on a pillar. Scott and I move towards them while this happens.

One of his goons says "Let's crush him Dunc!". I jump in and reply "How about we don't, Dunc." They all look at us. Scott says, "Just chill. The wallets are still there. How about we give him give back the cash? No harm done." Todd immediateley agrees and says, "Yeah. Yeah. See? He-Here's the money." "What do you care about this scuzzo, Summers? Russell?" Duncan says to us. I simply reply, "Not much. But I'm not crazy about three against two either. So how about we settle this peacefully?"

Duncan just replies, "I think me and my buds are gonna squash this slimeball. So you two and Summer's stupid 'sunglasses at night' can just bail." Duncan proceeds to throw Todd on the ground. I see Scott ready to take off his sunglasses and shoot his optic blast. I grab his shoulder and say, "Scott, we cant show our powers remember?" He lowers his hand and says, "I know, but we have to do something."

Then, just as Duncan is about to step on Todd, Scott goes to grab Duncan and says, "I said, knock it off!" He tosses Duncan toward his goons and they fall on the ground. Todd just jumps away from us. Like he literally jumped. Duncans goon saw and said, "He's getting away!" The goons let go of Duncan (Duncan falling on the ground on his face) and go after him.

I say to Scott, "I'll make sure they don't do anything to him." I run over to where the goons go. I run into Jean. "Trent, what's going on?" Jean asks. I say to her, "Your boyfriend was roughing up a kid named Todd Tolansky and right now he is dealing with Scott." "What?" Jean replies and we look over to see Scott and Duncan fighting. Jean shouts, "Scott, no!" Duncan punches Scott towards a pillar. "Scott!" Jean and I shout. Scott hits the piller, his glasses come if and beams of red concussive energy come out of his eyes. Those beams hit Duncan as well as a propane tank. The tank explodes. Jean and I looking in horror.

Later, the fire trucks and the police get here. The firemen work to put out the fire that the explosion caused. Jean and I go find Scott. The broken pillars were on fire and It was hard to see. Jean says" It's too hot to touch, at least with my hands. She lifts a pillar up from the ground with her telekinesis. I see Scott's sunglasses and pick them up with a force field i form around it. I then hand them to Jean. "Thanks, Trent" She says to me. I say "No problem." Jean looks up and finds Scott sitting on the ground with his eyes covered. We go over to him. Jeans touches his hand saying, "You okay?" She puts the glasses on him. He says, "Jean. Oh, wow I-" Jean inturrupts saying, "Shh, I know." She looks over to where Duncan is being looked at by paramedics. She says to us, "Look, you two better split." So Scott and I head out to the side of the bleachers.

Scott looks at Jean talking with Duncan and his shoulders tighten and his hands clench. He is upset that Jean is taking more care of Duncan than him. Todd walks to us and says, "Uh, thanks. Really, you know?" I look at him and say, "No problem Tolansky, It was our pleasure, right Scott?" Scott just replies with a disgruntled "Yeah". He walks away from us. I say to Todd, "See you around." I then follow Scott and we head home.

Location: Xavier Institute

The Next day, Scott and I are outside the bathroom, waiting for Jean to finish getting ready so we could get to school. Scott impatiently say, "Give it up, Jean. It's hopeless." Jean say from inside the bathroom, "I'll be done in a second." "Come on. We're gonna be late." He replys. I swear Scott can be really impatient sometimes. I say to Scott, "Be patient Scott, you know how women are with their looks." He just gives me a look that reads "not helping". Jeans says, "Almost done." Scott begins to say, "Look you want me to blow this door..." Suddenly the door opens and out steps Jean. "...down?" Scott finishes in confusion. Jean puts her finger under his chin flirtatiously and says, "So are we going or what?" I look at Scott with a smirk on my face. I say to him, "Dude, you're drooling." He looks at me and says, "Shut up, Trent."

As we head down the stairs, Scott calls out to our mentor and head of the mansion, Professor Charles Xavier, "We're heading out professor." The Professor say in reply, "Just a moment you three. Come here. I'd like you to meet someone. We head to the library where the professor is. We see the professor himself along with someone wearing a grey hood. "This is Kurt Wagner. He arrived late last night." Said the professor. Jean and I wave while Scott does the intro for us, "Hey Kurt, this is Jean and Trent. I'm Scott. How you doing?" Scott takes out his hand to shake Kurts. Kurt, for some reason, backs away like he's afraid somehow. Professoe X says, "Kurt, you're among friends here." I say to Kurt, "Yeah, you have nothing to be afraid of. We're all mutants here." After some hesitation, Kurt takes out his hand, which has only three fingers and blue skin. He shyly says in a german accent, "Hello." Scott looks at the hand in surprise. Kurt sees his look and retracts his hand.

The professor clears his throat and says, "I was just telling Kurt how I set up this institute for gifted youngsters. Youngsters whose Gifts are not always an asset. Right, Scott?" He looks at Scott with a stern expression. Scott sheepishly says, "So, you heard about last night?" The professor replies, "DIfficult not to. It was on all the news channels." Scott tries to explain, "It was a bad situation, and there was an accident. I'm sorry." The Professor replies, "I know. Fortunately no one was badly hur and the true cause was not discovered. But you must be more carefull Scott." "Come on, professor! I'm packing a bazooka behind each eyeball! WHat do you want from me?" Scott says fristratingly. The professor simply says, "Control, Scott. That's what you're hear to learn. That's why you're all hear."

He turns to Kurt and says, "Scotts eye emit a destructive optic blast beam." Kurt takes off his hood and says, "Cool." We all got to see that Kurt has blue fur and hair as well as pointy ears and yellow eyes. He also had a pointed tail. I thought he looked pretty cool, like a furry elf. Jeans says to our furry friend, "How about you Kurt? Got a special gift that brought you here?" Suddenly he disappears in a puff of smoke. Then he reappears in the other side of the room and says, "Maybe." "Whoa." we all said in awe. The Professor says to us, "I'll be helping Kurt Gat settled in. We can talk more tonight." With that, Scott, Jean and I head to school.

Location: Bayville High Hallways

Scott and I went to our lockers to get our lunch. Paul turns to us saying, "Hey, see you two in the cafeteria." Scott replies to him, "We're just grabbing our lunch. Save us some seats." Then Todd Tolansky shows up between our lockers and says, "Yo, Summers. Russell." Then he jumps up to the top of the lockers. He then says to us, "What's up." Scott and I look surprised; a jump that high isn't humanly possible. He must be a mutant like us. With a jump like that and his face resembling a toad, I think I should call him Toad.

Scott looks around to see if anyone saw the jump. When he confirmed there was no one watching he said to Toad, "That's quite a jump." Toad just replies, "You like it? Suprised you can see it through them smokies of yours. Here, let me help." Then he did the most disgusting thing I've ever seen; he stuck his tongue out, which was long, green and slimy. This long tougne snatched Scotts shades, causing Scott to close his eyes so he won't shoot another involuntary blast.

Toad says, "What's the matter, Summers? Afraid to, heh, open your eyes?" I say to Toad, "We all know what happens when he does, Toad. Now give Scott his shades or I'll blast your warty face." I cause my hands to glow to prove my point. Toad then obliges, "You got it." He uses his tougne to give back Scotts shades. The slime from the tougne touched Scotts hand, grossing him out. Some of the slime got on me too, I was completely grossed out as well.

Toad then tries to talk, "Well, as you can see we all got something in common." "Yeah, now we're all slimy." Scott says sarcastically. Toad immediately says, "No. I mean we ain't like other people." "Your point being?" I reply. "Well I just wanna talk." Toad says, jumping on the lockers, hanging on the front. "You know, get to know each other better. You know." Toad then takes Scotts lunch and swallows it whole. Great so he has a second stomach too? Tood then continues," Maybe, do lunch." I just say, "We'll think about it." Then Scott and I walk away from Toad, going to lunch. I turn to Scott, "We can share my lunch if you want." Scott smiles and says, "Sure, but first, I'm gonna call the Professor and tell him about Toad." "Good idea. He'll want to know about this." Then we head to the cafeteria.

Location: Xavier Institute

That night, I decided to get to know the newest addition to our group, Kurt. "So Kurt, what's Germany like?" "We'll, aside from the circus I performed in, it wasn't very exciting." Kurt replied. I turn to him in surprise and say, "You were in a circus? That's so cool! What kind of acts did you do?" "Well, mostly acrobatics, along with using my powers. But the people thought it was special effects. I went under the name 'The incredible Nightcrawler'." Kurt replies. I ask him, "Nightcrawler, eh? Is that what your codename is gonna be?" He asks, "Codename?" I explain to him, A name you use when we go on missions. Like mine is artillery, because I can create anything I can think of; even weapons." "Oh, thats cool. I guess I'm going with nightcrawler since it makes sense." Kurt says. I reply, "Sounds good to me."

We start to head to the main lobby, where we see lightning flashing outside. Storm, one of our teachers, must be doing something outside. She has the cool power to control the weather. Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, the wind outside blows the doors open. Then I see Toad blown in through the doors, crashing into Kurt. Once Toad and Kurt get back on their feet, Toad starts to insult him. "Whoa, what are you? Some kind of ratty pluch toy." Kurt sniffs the air and cringes in disgust. Then he replies, "The names Nightcrawler, and at least I don't reek like unwashed lederhosen." I chuckle at that. Kurt's turning out to be very funny. Toad just gets mad, "You blue furred freak!"

He makes a jump at Nightcrawler, but he just teleports away. Toad swats away the smoke. Nightcrawler reappears on the chandelier, "As you say in America: neener, neener, neener!" Kurt just keeps getting funnier by the minute. Toad just says, "That ain't gonna help you, boy" He jumps up to the chandelier to catch Nightcrawler, but Nightcrawler just jumps off and clings to the wall below. He taunts to Toad, "You're so slow." He then winks at him and crawls along the walls, Toad growling while he does it. Nightcrawler says to him, "You couldn't catch flies on a windshield." Toad follows him on the walls saying, "Fight like a man." I just chuckle and head to the danger room, our training facility. We have a session so I better get ready.

Once I put my uniform on, I reach Scott and Jean. I say to them, "I hope you two are ready for what this training room of doom has to offer." Scott laughs and says, "It's not that bad." Jean just scoffs and says, "Sure you would say that, you love training." Scott justifies himself saying, "Hey you gotta be prepared for anything." Suddenly the alarms go off. The Professor talks to us through his telepathy saying, "Scott, Trent, Jean! Nightcrawler and toad have teleported in the Danger Room!" Scott panics saying, "Oh, man! The Danger Room has automated defenses!" Jean follows that up with, "It'll attack them wuth everything it's got!" The Professor says to us, "Get in there now!" "I say, "we're on it professor." We all run to the Danger Room.

We reach the Danger Room. Immediately Scott Give out orders since he is our leader. "I've got the cannons. You two keep them clear of the tentacles." Jean and I reply "On it!" We fly up in the air heading to where Nightcrawler was. Jean lifts him with her telekinesis, getting him out of the way of an incoming tentacle. He say to her, "You're an angel." Jean jokes back, "On occasion. How about you? are you a demon?"

I see Toad about to get crushed by walls coming from the ground. I create a giant energy anvil to block the walls. I strain since this takes a lot of willpower. I shout out to Scott "Cyclops, I can't hold it much longer!" Cyclops is Scotts codename. Cyclops replies, "I got it!" Then he shoots an optic blast with his specialized visor, destroying one of the walls. The anvil I created disappears, and I exhale since it took alot of energy to keep that up. Cyclops shouts to Toad, "Tolansky, over here!" He continues to blast any cannons and I use what energy I have left to blast any tentacles.

Suddenly the professor's voice came from the control room, " Security code override: Priority X. Voiceprint: Charles Xavier." Then we hear a computerized voice saying, " _Confirmed. Shut down in five seconds._ " Nightcrawler suddenly says, "Ah, now I get it. It's a training area. Watch." He teleports to a cannon saying, "I just pull the plug and and-" He unplugs the cannon, which causes it to go haywire. Storm comes in to shoot lightning at it, neutralizing it.

Then everything in the Danger Room turns off. Toad, understandably freaked out, says, "Forget this, man! I've seen enough! I am out of here!" Then he jumps away, probably to get out of the mansion. Scott tries to stop him but it was too late. Scott say, "Sorry, professor. I couldn't stop him." The professor says, "It's alright, Cyclops. He wasn't ready to be one of us." Nightcrawler says in a sad tone, "I blew it too, professor. I'm sorry. You've been wonderful. But I guess...I-I just don't belong here. Then he teleports away, the professor saying, "Nightcrawler, wait!" Scott immediately says, "No sweat, professor. I'll take care of it." I go with him to talk to Kurt.

We find Kurt in the hangar, where we see him admiring a big jet. Scott tells him what it is, "The SR-77 BLackbird. Twice as fast as the SR-71 and with three times the range and firepower. Nice huh?" Kurt says in reply, " _Sehr gut_. Is it yours? Please tell me you get to fly it." I say to him, "It's ours. And if you stick around for a while, we'll show you how to pilot this bad boy." Scott the say to Kurt, "So what do you say, you want to be part of our team?" Kurt looks uncertain. "Me? I almost got you two killed a few minutes ago." I put my arm around his shoulders saying, "Hey it's fine. We all make mistakes. I know I do. I especially know Scott does." Scott immediatley says "Hey!" I ingnore his reply and continue. "That's why we are here, to learn not to make mistakes like that. That's why we'd like you to stay."

Kurt then asks, "And you guys don't mind the way I look." Scott laughs and says, "Dude, just don't hassle me about my shades and we'll call it even." I just say to him, "And don't make fun of my white skin. I've been called 'neon white' before." Kut simply says, "We have a deal then." "Welcome to the team." I said. Scott says to Kurt, "Come on, we'll show you where they hide the sodas." We then exit the hangar and head to the kitchen.

Once we reatch the kitchen entrance, someone steps out. Someone Scott and I know very well. It was our other instructor Logan, or Wolverine as he likes to be called on the field. I greet him, "Hey, Logan! Finally back from your trip huh?" Logan replys, "Yup, I'm back. And I hope you didn't get in to too much trouble, bub." I scoff and say, "Come on, Logan. When have I ever gotten into trouble?" He simply says, "Anytime you were nearly killed in the Danger Room with your hot dogging." I justify myself saying, "That was years ago Logan. I'm more responsible now." He scoffs and says, "Sure you are."

Then he noticed Kurt and says, "Whos the elf?" Scott immediately says, "This is Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler. Our newest member. Kurt, this is Logan, aka Wolverine. Another one of our Instuctors." Kurt nods and says to Logan. "Pleased to meet you, _herr_ Logan." "You too, Elf" Logan says. I then say, "Well we better get to the kitchenn for a snack. See you around Logan." Logan replys back, "Don't gorge youself in there. You don't want to be too stuffed when we train tomorrow." I say in exasperation, "Yeah, yeah, I get it." We head into the kitchen, leaving Logan to head to his room.


	2. Chapter 2

Location: Xavier Institute

I woke up this morning thinking it was gonna be a normal boring day at school. Besides PE and Wood Shop, nothing really exciting happened at school. Not like the missions me and my friends go on as the mutant team, the X-Men. So far the team is limited to me, Jean, Scott ans our newest addition Kurt. I hoped we would get more teamamtes soon.

I was just getting ready for school when the Professor's voice came into my head, " _Trent, you and Jean meet me at the hangar. I have an assignment for you two._ " I mentally reply, " _On my way Professor._ " Yes! I get to go on a mission and miss school. How awesome is that!

Location: Inside the X-Jet

We were on our way to Illinois, where Professor X said we would be meeting two mutants his mutant finder, Cerebro, detected. One was a girl named Kitty Pryde. The Other was a guy named Lance Alvers. I asked," Why us? Why not the whole team?" The professor replied, "Because you're the ones who can connect with these kids."

Jean asked him, "Why is it just me and Trent though?" Professor says, "I asked you two to come because you're models of what we're offering them. No pressure." I just whisper to Jean, "No pressure he says." Jean just says nervously, "To think we passed up a nice relaxing midterm for this."

Location: Pryde household

We meet Kitty's parents at her house and ask them if we could talk to her. The mother looks nervouse as she asks, "What are you talking about? How do you know Kitty?" Jean tries to negotiate, "Please may we come in for a moment? We'll answer all your questions about anything-" The father interrupts her saying, "Excuse me miss. You can talk to u sout here."

I get the feeling he doesn't trust us. Which is understandable since in his eyes we are strangers. Professor X says, "Very well. I think you know Kitty i sgoing through a unique transition. We simply want to help her through it. Why don't you tell us about last night?"

They suddenly look fearful, Ms. Pryde putting her hand on Mr. Pryde's shoulder. Mr. Pryde said in a harsh tone, "Last night is none of your business! Please just leave us alone." They go into the house and slam the door. I say, "Next time let's just call and get hung up on. Less hassle." The professor says to us, "You two will need to make contact with Kitty and Lance directly, at the school."

Location: Deerfield High School

When Jean and I get to the school, we split up in order to find Kitty or Lance more effectively. I descided to check the hallways, using my powers to bend light around myself turning invisible. I picked up this trick while training in the Danger Room one day.

My powers aren't limited to creating energy constructs, thats only part of my mutation. I can also control light energy and use it in different ways; like flying, turning invisible, making glowing orbs, and shooting energy beams.

I see Kitty at her looker, and as I was about to go over there I see two girls talking. I listen closely while invisible, the first girl saying, "Riley, check the Kitty pity party." Riley says, "Dreading PE, no doubt. Probably the only class she's not acing." "Let's give her some time off." Her friend said.

The girls sneak up on Kitty and push her into her locker, slaming it shut. The first girl says, "World closing in on you, Kitty?" I scoffed. Well that was real mature. NOT! I could hear Kitty shouting in her locker. "Hey! Let me out you jerks! Open this door! sombody open this door!" I heard her growl while she was shouting. Wow, this girl had quite a temper.

I was about to go over and help her out of her locker when i spotted someone coming out of the boys bathroom. It was Lance Alvers, the other kid we were looking for. He had a can in his hands, which I'm gussing is spray paint. I guessed right since he started to pain the lockers with it, making a red paint line all over them. Huh, he seems like the delinquent type, getting into trouble.

I heard Kitty shout from the locker, "Hey, who's out there? Can you hear me?" She started banging on the locker, hoping to get Lances attention since I'm assuming she heard him spray painting. Once Lance reached her locker, something cool happened. Kitty went throught the locker door like a ghost, bumping into lance as she stumbled out. Okay, that is really cool. She will make a good additon to our team with that power. She would be able to get us out of situations if we re trapped.

Once Kitty sat up she stared at her hands in shock, like she was freaked out about what just happened. Lance started to talk, "Hey, you see what you just did?" She responded, "What I...I, like, just fell out." Lance said, "Yeah man. Right through the door! That is so cool!" Kitty just looked at him and said, "You're crazy!"

She tried to run away when Lance stopped her, "No, no. Wait a minute. I'm the one guy around here who gets the beauty of it. Because you're just like me. Really!" She looks at him sceptically, probably wondering what he meant.

He just said, "Alright then, check this." He then starts to shake his hands in the air, making a face like he was having a headache. Then the whole ground started to shake, the lockers all opening up while it was happening. I tried hard to stay invisible while it was happening because i didn't want to blow my cover.

Once the ground stopped shaking, Lance, while looking exshausted said, "Getting the picture?" Kitty just looks terrified saying, "No! You're just, like, some freak! Leave me alone!" She runs away from him, making sounds like she was still freaked out. Lance started stepping towards her direction saying, "You can run, but you cant hide. Because I'm gonna rock your world." He had an evil look on his face, which led me to think he was trouble.

I lef tthe hallways and found a secluded place to call Jean. I dialed her number and waited for an answer. Jean answered, " Hey, Trent." I responded, "Jean, I found Kitty, as well as Lance." She said, "Great, did you talk to them?" I said, "No, but I think Lance may be trouble. I saw him interacting with Kitty, then while she was runnning away I saw Lance with a creepy look on his face. Like maybe had something planned that involved using Kitty."

Jean responded, "That doesn't sound good. I'll find Kitty, you find Lance and see what he is up to." I said, "Got it, he's probably headed towards the school field where gym class is held since Kitty is headed there for her next class" "Okay, good luck." She said. "You too." I said back. Then i hung up and headed to the field.

Location: School field

Once I reached the field, I flew in the air looking for Lance. I heard rustling in the trees, and headed towards the sound. I saw two guys jumping off the trees and onto a rooftop. They stopped at an opening with what appears to be wires. I saw Lance with them staring out into the field. I heard one of the say, "Shut up with the clodding around." The other said, "Stow it Griff! Can we bust in through here or not?" Griff said, "Not. It's wired into the alarm system." The other guy said to Lance, "Now what Alvers? We got no way into this stinking office and midterms start in the morning."

Griff said, "Yeah, and exam answers ain't exactlly gonna fetch a prime price after the test. Can't you just, you know, make a door?" Lance looked at him and said, "Sure, and have them know they were in? They'll change the tests! I got a sweeter idea. Her." He pointed them to where Kitty was. Griff Looks at him like he was crazy saying, "What? Are gonna have her long jump through the wall? Come on, get serious."

Lance grabs Griff by the wrist saying, "You riding me, Griff? Huh? Are you?" I saw the ground beneath them shaking, which means he was using his powers. Griff tried to talk out of the situation, "Sorry, man. I was just-" The other guy said, "Whoa, whoa. It's cool, Lance." Lance lets go and says to the guys, "You two losers just line up the customers. I'll snatch the answers."

He watches as Kitty stumble in the sandpit, failing to long jump. Then Riley starts to run towards the line where she would jump over. The Lance makes a crack in the ground, which heads toward where Riley is supposed to jump over. Once Riley jumps, Lance makes an upward motion and sand pops up and propels amy in the air. Then she plops down on the ground, with sand falling on her.

I'm guessing he did that to impress Kitty. Though judging by the look on her face, she was far from impressed. Instead she was terrified. She runs off, bumping into Jean as she does so. Kitty rushes past her and runs off somewhere. Jean sees me hiding near the trees and tells me with er telepathy, " _Meet me in the school."_ I nod and flew towards the direction of the School.

Location: School Auditorium

After I tell Jean about what I heard Lance was planning on doing with Kitty, we head to the auditorium, where Kitty is found bending over a bowl that was on the floor. She looked like she was freaking out. We head over to her, Jean speaking to her first, "Kitty? Kitty, are you alright?"

Kitty backs off in fear, startled by our sudden apperence. She says to us, "That rah-rah Riley a friend of yours? Because I had nothing to do with what happened out there in the sandpit." I calmly say, "We know. And We are not Riley's friends. Beleve me I would not want to be friends with a snob like her." Kitty just responds while hiding behind a mask she picked off the wall, "Well, your girlfriend next to you looks like she'd be her friend."

I snort in amusement while Jean blushes, "No, no, Jean's not my girlfriend. We're just friends. She's like my sister." Jean agrees recovering from her blush, "Yea exactly." Kitty Just continues to hide behind the mask. Jean says to her, "Kitty, there's no need for masks. We know whats going on." Kitty angerly responds, "You two don't know anything and neither does that creepy guy out there!"

I just say to her, "Lance? Forget him, this is about you. You and your awesome new gift." She scoffs at me saying, "I don't have any gifts, just a curse." I respind with, "It's only a cures if you let it be. We'd like to help you understand this. Together-" She interrupts, "Look, I don't want any of this! It's, like, hard enough just being normal you know?"

Jean sighs and says, "Kitty, look. I want you to watch me for a second. Please?" After a moment of silence which probably means Kitty agreed, Jean uses her telekinesis to lift the mask and put it back on the wall where it was. Kitty looked amazed and asked, "How'd you do that?" Jean responds, "The same way you can pass through walls. Just like you I woke up and I had this power. And trust me I hated it too."

Kitty looks at me asking me, "What about you? What can you do?" I smile and hold my hands out, creating a glow of light. She seemed amazed by what I was doing, almost in awe. Once the light died out I said to her, "I discovered my power while I was playing in school back home in Connecticut. I was being bullied and I wanted to push the bullies away, and I shot a laser beam from my hands. I was freaked out, I didn't know what happened. So believe me I get what you're going through."

She looked like she believed me at first, but then she shrugged us off saying, "I don't believe you two! This is a trick!" Jean says, "No. No, you do believe us. I know because of my other ability. I can read your thoughts." Kitty just holds her head shouting, "No! Stay out of my head! NO!" She runs out the door, me and Jean trying in vain to stop her.

As we looked at the direction she was headed, we felt two hands on our shoulders. We looked and saw Lance. He said, "Piece of advise you two. I'm the only friend that girl's gonna need. And I'll be teaching her what's what. So you two back youselves off." He pushes us aside and walks out of the audutorium. I turn to Jean saying, "That could have gone better." She just responds sarcastically, "You think?"

Location: School Hallways

Once Jean and I left the auditorium, she went to call the proffessor to tell him about Lance's plan. I am currently following Kitty to her locker while invisible, since I figured Lance would follow her. She is getting books out of her locker when Lance comes up behind her.

She immediatley tried to fight him, but he stopped her saying, "Easy, I won't shake things up, I promise. I'm uh- my name's Lance. We should really talk." Kitty just says, "Why can't everyone just, like, leave me alone!"

After she slams the door Lance tries to reach out to her, "You feel sick inside everytime you think about it, don't you? You want it to go away, but it won't. You're afraid of what might happen. You're parents are clueless, probably ashamed. And being alone don't help."

Great he's using the sympathy approach. She says, "What are you, like reading my mind too." Lance immediatley responds, "No way! It's just I've been going through it myself. You know trying to figure it out. But I've learned how to control it. Meet me outside the office in an hour. I'll show you how."

Kitty leaves after that and I take this time to appear to her once lance was out of range. I become visible and try to geet Kitty's attention. "Kitty? Kitty, over here." She heard me and turned around. When she saw me she said, "What are you doing here. You weren't spying on me were you?"

"I had to, Lance is trouble. He wants to use your powers to help break into the office in order to steal test answers." She just scoffs, "Why should I believe someone who was spying on me?" I try to deffend myself, "I'm trying to help you." She just gets more mad, "Well I don't need your help! I can take care of myself!" She leaves in a huff.

I sigh and call Professor X. He answers, "Hello, Trent." "Hey Prof, did Jean tell you what's happening?" "Yes, she did. What are you calling about?" He asks. I say, "I tried reasoning with Kitty, but she won't listen. She's meeting Lance outside the office in an hour." Professor X tells me, "I want you to follow them and keep trying to stop Lance. Jean and I will meet you inside with Kitty's parents." "On it Prof." I hang up and head to where the office was located.

Location: Outside the office

Once I reached the office, I saw Lance waiting there. It took a while to find the office and I had to look all over the school. I also geared up in case things got out of hand. Suddenly the office door opens and I see Kitty. She says, "Did you see me? Did you?" Lance responds, "Yeah! Wow Kitty. How did it feel?" As he was saying this I fly into the office before it shuts. Kitty answers him while hugging him, "Oh, it was, like, totally unbelieveable." Lance tells her, "You're making it yours Kitty. Once you own it, nothing can own you." She smiles at him.

Lance leads her to the computers where he was tamoering with the grades. I didn't do anything yet because I figured if Kitty sees what he is doing, she would see he is using her. Once he finishes he says, "Haha, test answers present and accounted for." Kitty looks at him surprised, "That glowy guy was right. You were just using me to cheat." Lance just looks at her and says, "Hey, this crummy school uses these kind of tests to keep us down, Kitty. No more! We take control."

This is when I descided to make my move. I made myself visible saying, "You call this control. This is you abusing your powers for yourr personal gain. And what's worse, you're involving Kitty in this." Lance just angerly says, "Hey! This is none of your business! Whoever you are, back off!" I descided to properly introduce myself, "My name's Trent Russell. My friend Jean and my professor are on their way here right now with Kitty's parents. So I suggest you give me the test answers and walk away."

Lance Just Grabes Kitty's wrist saying, "No way! I'm taking Kitty and we are gonna go our own way." As Kitty struggles to break free, I hear the door open. We look and see Jean along with Mr. and Mrs. Pryde. Mr. Pryde shouts, "Let go of my daughter." He rushes in to save her but Lance says, "Fat enough, old man!" He makes a tremor which causes the bookcase to fall. As it was about to fall on Mr. Pryde, I make a force field, bloking the bookcase. Kitty shouts to Lance, "No! Stop!" Lance just says, "There just gonna confuse you, Kitty."

He drags her to the wall making a hole with a tremor saying, "We're out of here!" Mrs. Pryde tries to reason with Kitty, "Please, Kitty. We can work through this together." Kitty still tries to get out of Lance's grip. "Let go of me!" Once Lance finishes with the hole he says, "We're in control now. We make out own way."

I lift the bookcase with my force field while Mrs. Pryde tends to her husband. Mr. Pryde speaks up, "Kitty, I've pushed you to this I know. I wanted to pretend nothing was wrong. I'm not perfect. I'm learning. Just like you are." Tears come down Kitty's eyes as she says, "Daddy?" Lance interrupts, "Forget them! Come on! I'm bringing this place down!"

He make a large tremor that shakes the school. Jean tries to clear the debris away from us. She tells Kitty, "You called your gift a curse. If you go with him, I guarantee you it will be." I interject saying, "She's right, Lance will only bring you trouble. Plus if you go with him, you won't see your family again." Mrs. Pryde says, "Please, Kitty. Listen to them!" Mr. Pryde follows with, "Sweetheart, we love you!"

Lance just drags her to the exit saying, "They're too late! You're with me now!" Kitty then uses her powers to phase through Lances grip saying, "No! I'm not!" As she starts to run to her family, Lance just gets more mad. I got a bad feeling he was gonna crush Kitty so I ran to her and pushed her out of the way. The debris falls on me, and I form a personal force field around my body in order to protect myself.

I hear Kitty calling my name in worry. I also heard more debris falling down. I had faith that Jean would clear most of it with the professor guiding her. I concentrated hard and expanded the force field so it would break the debris off of me. Once the debris was off I deactivated the field and said, "I don't recommend that."

Kitty looks overjoyed and runs over to hug me. I hug her back as she says while crying, "You saved me! I'm so sorry I didn't believe you about Lance! You were, like, only trying to help me!" I calmly respond, "No worries, I did spy on you anyway so we're even." She looks up and says, "You were spying because you cared. Because you had my best interests at heart. I should have listened to you."

I just tell her, "It's all in the past, what's done is done. Now lets get out of here." Kitty looks at everyone and says, "Okay. Like, everyone grab onto me. I'll get us out." She lead us out through the fallen debris with her powers. Once we reached outside we saw the professor. He says, "Yes Kitty, it is a gift. And you've used it well."

Kitty looks to her parents, "Mom, I'm so sorry. And daddy, these people, they, like, want to help me. I trust them." Mr. Pryde simply says, "I know, sweetie. And so do I. Professor, I think we have some things to talk about." The professor responds with, "Yes we do."

Location: Outside the X-Jet

Once the professor cleared things up with Kitty's parents, Kitty packed her things, said goodby to her parents, and came with us to the X-Jet. Once there she and I talked. She asked, "So, like, can you do other things besides make glowing light and shields?" I said, "Yup, I can create anything my mind comes up with; a glowing fist, swords, blasters, energy disks. Basically, if my imagination can think it, odds are I can make it happen."

She looks amazed as she says, "Wow, thats, like so cool. Certainly a lot cooler than going through walls." I scoff and say, "Hey thats a cool power too. You can get out of any bad situation you find yourself in." She says in response, "Yeah that's true." She looks at me and asks, "Is it true that you were bullied?" I just say, "Yeah, It frequently happened while I was playing with my toys. I was in middle school and the othe kids thought I was weird since I was often in my own world. Then one day in 8th grade, I was so overwhelmed by the bullies that I wanted them to go away. That's when I first shot out lasers out of my hands."

Kitty looks sympathetic and says, "Like, I'm sorry. I know what it's like to be picked on. I'm sure you noticed that Riley and her snobby friend often stuff me in my locker and pick on me." I snort and say, "Yeah, I still can't believe some people are like that. Picking on people who are either helpless or strange." She responds, "I know right?" I look at her as we walk up the ramp of the jet, "Kitty, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." She just giggles and says, "Like, Absolutely."


	3. Chapter 3

Location: Xavier Institute

It was nighttime at the institute and we were all in the control room, watching Wolverine and Storm demonstrate the security system and teach us to find weak points. We see water burst from a vent in the danger room and Wolverine falls out, he is dressed in a ninja outfit. Storm says to him, "You look a little flushed, and the forcast isn't good."

Logan jumps up to her, but she sends an ice blast at him that sends him to the other side of the room. Logan gets up saying, "Now that was cold." He breaks th ice he was trapped in as Storm says, "Then let's warm you up." She pushes a button that activates a cannon.

The cannon blasts at Wolverine but he jumps up, unsheathing his claws and piercing the cannon. While he does this the cannon electrocutes him and sends him back to the side he jumped from. Luckily he has a healing factor so he wasn't hurt from the electricity. Logan then says, "Gotta connect first. Got any other party tricks?"

When he says that, a machine pops out that has tenticles sticking out. It spins around trying to hit Wolverine but he jumps and lands in the machine, slashing through it. This stops the spinning as Professor X says, "Stop! It is, at the moment, as much as we can afford Wolverine."

Logan takes off the mask and says, "Hey, when I give a demo, I give a demo." Scott responds, "Is that demo as in "demolish" or "demonstration"? What was the point?" Storm answers, "The point, young Cyclops, was to teach you somethign about finding th weak points in sophisicated security systems."

Logan comes in saying, "That's right, bub. And I'd say ous needs a little work." Kurt was upside down eating popcorn in a bowl he was holding with his feet. He says to Logan, "That was tight. I give it two thumbs up." Since he was up side down, it looked like the thumbs were pointed down.

Logan continues, "The vents were pretty easily breached. Gonna need to fix that. Maybe electrify em' or install poison gas sprayers." Storm scolds him, "Wolverine." He responds, "All right, all right. Knockout gas then." Kitty is sitting next to me shivering. She says, "Is it just me, or is anyone else, like, seriously freaked by all this?"

We all look at her, causing her to say, "Oh, right. It's just me? Great." Kurt ties to cheere her up, "Relax, Kitty. You'll be fine." He teleports next to her, causing her to gasp. He says, "We're right beside you." He ports again, reappearing next to me saying, "Popcorn?" Kitty and I both gasp and jump in surprise. I say to Kurt, "Dude, don't just port near people without warning." He responds sheepishly, "Oops, heh-heh. Sorry. Next time, I'll honk before I port."

She just says, "Whatever. Look guys, it's late. If it's, like, no biggie to you, I'm gonna like drop out." She then phases through the floor. Kurt looks down in shame saying, "Ah. She is fully not into the fuzzy dude. Not that I really blame her." Jean places her hand in his shoulder saying, "Aw, she just needs time Kurt. She'll come around."

The professor comes in and says, "X-Men, we have an emergency. Scott, get the blackbird prepped for launch. And since it's a weekend, assemble the full team." Scott says, "Yes, sir. What's the mission." Thr prof answers, "Cerebro has detected a new mutans in Caldecott County, Mississippi. My mental impressions from the scene indicate a higly disturbed individual. Our mutant is a danger to herself and possible others as well. X-Men, we have a rogue." I say to the Professor, "I'll find Kitty and tell her what's going on." "Good, then meet us at the hanger after you find her." "Sure thing prof."

Location: X-Jet

Once I told Kitty, what was going on, we got changed into our uniforms and got to the hange where everyone boarded the Blackbird. Kurt was piloting and managed to get us in the air. He says to Scott, "Stealth mode stable...leaveling off at 10,000 feet." Scott guides him, "Steady...Now hold it right there...and you got it. Nice job, Kurt. You'll make a pilot yet."

Kurt says, "Thanks." He then steers the plane with his feet, leaving Scott to say, "Or...maybe not. I've logged our flight plan to the FAA. We're clear through to Jackson. We'll take the van from there." The Professor say impressed, "Good. You're picking up logistics quickly Scott."

I'm in the front and I hear Kitty, who's codename is Shadowcat, say to Jean, "Scott seems so, like, together. So cool and...he's kinda cute." Jean says, "Cute? Um, stiff, maybe. Exacting definitely but...hmmm, you know from a certain angle." I chuckle at this because I know Jean likes Scott just as much as he likes her. Man, why don't they just go out already.

Then Kitty says, "And Trent has a way with danger. I mean he like, risked his life to save me. Now he's like my best friend." I blush, flattered that Kitty thinks that way about me. Ever since she came to the institute we became the best of friends, doing nearly everything together.

After a moment, I hear Kurt teleporting. I look out front, spotting Kurt out the window. He must be trying to impress Kitty like he has been trying to do since she came to the institute. He suddenly started to stumble forward and teleported into the X-Jet, landing in top of Kitty.

Professor X then scolds, "Kurt, the Blackbird is not the place to be fooling around. You frightened Kitty." Kurt apologises, "Sorry, Kitty." She just says, "Eww, j-just, like, stay away from me." She walks up front and stits near me. I ask, "Are you okay Kitty?" She responds, "Yeah it's just that Nightcrawler guy keeps creeping me out. He has been bugging me since I came."

I gently remind her, "I know but keep in mind, Kurt hasn't been around people much because of how scared people have been about his looks. He's probably trying to impress you." She just responds, "Well he's not impressing me so far." I say in responce, "Just give him a chance. Once you get past the prankster exterior, you'll see that Kurt is a nice guy and a great friend."

She sighs saying, "If you say so." I then tease her saying, "So, I have a way with danger huh?" She looks sheepish and says, "You, like, heard that?" "I did. And sometimes that's true, but you know I wasn't always a risk taker." "Yeah, I remember you saying you had trouble with bullies and that you were a shy, nerdy kid. How did you, like, change from that to brave adventurer."

I just say, "It's mostly because my powers make me feel full of energy. Like I can do anything I set my mind to. But I'm still a nerd at heart. I have to be since my powers stem from my imagination." "That's, like so cool." We spent the whole ride just talking and sharing some funny stories.

Location: Caldecot County, Misssissipi

We are in the van in front of the local hospital. Wolverine says, "Is this really nessassary?" The Professor says, "Yes, Logan. The boy, Cody, is the key to finding our rogue, but he's unconsious and his mind is elusive. To Isolate his brainwave patterns I need someone on the inside." That pretty much means Jean was inside dressed as a nurse in order to have access to Cody's brainwaves.

Once Professor X got a fix on Cody's brainwaves Shadowcat, Wolverine, Nightcrawler and I walk down the streets looking for the girl. Shadowcat then says, "Ugh! So Does this, like, bite or what?" Wolverine just says to her, "The prof says the girl's mind is confused and difficult to pinpoint. So keep looking."

He suddenly stops and sniffs the air with his sense of smell. Nightcrawler says, "Vas? Got a scent?" "Yeah, I smell fear." I say, "Well that doesn't sound good." We follow Wolverine and eventually we find the girl. Wolverine says, "That's gotta be her." The gothic looking girl just looks scared as she says while jumping a fence, "Please! Leave me be!"

Nightcrawler ports in front of Wolverine saying, "Wolverine wait! She seems to be terrified by you. Let me try." Wolverine sighs and says, "Okay, kid. Just don't mess up capisce?" "Yes, sir." "I'll go find the prof. Oh, and squirt, put on your best face. No sense freaking the poor kid out than she already is."

As he say this, Nightcrawler turns on his image inducer and looks human. Wolverine says to me, "Glowstick, help the elf and keep an eye on the half pint here." Shadowcat looks offended saying, "Hey!" I say, "Sure thing, Wolverine. Let's go Shadowcat." We take off to where Kurt runs off to.

Shadowcat complains, "I can't pelieve he called me half pint. Ugh!" I say, "I know, but he's got a nickname for everybody. So don't take it personally." "Like, whatever." We soon reach a pace where we heard Kurt talking to who we assume was the goth girl. I might as well call her Rogue. Shadowcat phases us though the fence where we see both of them talking.

Kurt said to her, "I vas like you once. Alone, unsure of what I was, afraid to show my face. Can you believe it?" Shadowcat suddenly says, "She doesn't look so tought to me." She then jumps Rogue to the ground. But Rogue throws Shadowcat off and while Kurt struggles to calm her down, she hits his inducer, showing his Nightcrawler form.

She gets scared suddenly and touches him with her gloveless hand. It lookes like she was sucking his energy adn when she let go, she suddenly teleporte away. Looks like she can absorb powers and the life force of others' possibly their memories as well since the prof said Cody's memories were in her mind.

Kurt falls to the ground, unconsious. Kitty and I rush to him with Kitty saying, "Nightcrawler?!" Kurt groans but is still unconsious. She tries to get his attension again, "Nightcrawler! Kurt?! Kurt!" I calm her down saying, "He can't hear you. He's unconsious, bit I think he is alive." "I like, hope you're right."

We sit with Kurt for a while, during which Kitty tries to wake up Kurt, "Come on, Kurt. Please. Tease me, scare me. Anything. Please, don't be dead." "He's not dead Kitty. HE will be fine." "I hope so. Okay, what would Wolverne do." "You mean besides dice up half the landscape?" "Wait the professor can read minds right?"

She then bows her head as if consentrating. This goes on for a minute until she lifts her head up saying, "The Professor is sending someone to help." "Wow, that was pretty clever reaching the prof though his telepathy." She bluhes saying, "Like, thanks." We wait there for a bit, with Kitty continuing to talk to Kurt, "Come on Kurt. Wake up! You know I-I'm still not big on facial hair, but like, the pointy ears are starting to work for me."

I chuckle saying, "Sounds like you're not scared of him anymore." "Yeah. After thinking it over and seeing him now, I think he's really harmless. He looks like a blue fuzzy elf." I laugh saying, "I thought the same thing when I first met him." "Like really?" "Yeah. Plus I got to know him and Kurt's a really nice, funny guy."

Wolverine finds us saying to us, "Half pint, Glowstick! The prof wants us to meet him anf the others at the cemetary." "I say, "We're right behind you Wolverine!" We pick up Kurt and head over to the cemetary. Once we are there, we see that there is quite a mess, with means something happened. Plus we see Storm unconcious.

Scott asks, "So WHat do you think happened to the Rogue?" The Professor says, "She's gone...somewhere. Her mind's a jumble, I can't trace it. But I strongly suspect the hands of another at work here." Wolverine sniffs the air and says, "Mystique. SHe can change her body but not her scent."

Kitty says, "Then we have to go after her." Professor X says, "There has been enough damage done today, and the girl must come of her own free will or not at all. And we must first tend to out own." As he says that Storm and Kurt wake up. Kurt looks around and says, "Looks I missed quite a party." Kitty looks giddy and walks upt o Kurt saying, "Kurt, you're alright!"

Kurt falls down, Kitty catching him. She says, "Easy you fuzzy elf. Everything's going to be just fine." Scott repeats "Fuzzy Elf" to himself in disbelief. Kitty continues to hold Kurt in her arms, happy he is alive. I just walk to them saying, "Good to have you back Kurt. Now, lets go home. I think we all could use some a good nights sleep. Everyone agrees as we head back to the Jet to go home.


End file.
